Not a sound effect, it's what Naruto puts on the end of EVERYING he says.My friend got to meet the voice actor for naruto, and she begged him not to use naruto for studying Japanese. In her own words "I don't even know what I'm saying sometimes." *laugh*

harisenbon- i don't know, i guess i have a unique opinion, but to me, the sound effects look more like art and the kana just look better with the art. i just feel that since i like manga so much and i read it a lot, i would be being even more of a fan to the industry as well as the series (plural) that i like if i took the effort to learn japanese so i could read them the way the author originally intended.

i guess it just matters on the person's own views. also, part of the reason is that my two jap-american friends make fun of me for reading manga in english and they say it's only because i don't know japanese (or something like that). i took that as an insult to my intelligence as well as them looking down on me. and i am pretty stubborn so i hate when people look down on me and will do anything necessary to complete the challenge. this is sort of on a side note, but that's why i like naruto so much because that's what the story is all about; not giving up. also, i'm supposed to go to japan next year, so i think it would be cool if i started learning some.

Not a sound effect, it's what Naruto puts on the end of EVERYING he says.My friend got to meet the voice actor for naruto, and she begged him not to use naruto for studying Japanese. In her own words "I don't even know what I'm saying sometimes." *laugh*

myles1260 wrote:also, part of the reason is that my two jap-american friends make fun of me for reading manga in english and they say it's only because i don't know japanese (or something like that). i took that as an insult to my intelligence as well as them looking down on me.

1. Please try to avoid abbreviating as "Jap". It has racist overtones.2. You either have incredibly thin skin or an overly-broad definition of "insult".

In what way is it an insult to your intelligence that you can't read a language you don't know?

It wasn't them looking down on you; it was 14 year olds being 14 year olds.

Regarding an earlier post in the thread in which you referred to one of them being about sixth-grade level in Japanese: I have two children, both of whom are monolingual native Japanese speakers (yes, that means all communication between me and my kids is in Japanese). One of them is 14 and the other 13. "Grade level" in terms of language ability is an entirely meaningless measure. They were both "fluent" (in terms of comprehension, speaking, grammar, etc) well before they started school. You can say your friend speaks broken Japanese, but to say it is sixth-grade level is to imply that it would be the equivalent of a sixth-grade monolingual Japanese kid, which is a ridiculous notion as those kids are 100% fluent native-speakers and already were years prior.

Ah, okay, sorry Mike Cash, for the inappropriate abbreviation. I had no intention of insulting anyone, nor am I racist in any way. I didn't even know that, but I'll definitely keep it in mind from now on. Again, I deeply apologize.

Also, I know it wasn't an insult, but sometimes that's how my brain works, which I think is actually good. Let me explain- basically when someone states my inability to do something, sort of like what i was talking about, I know completely that the person who said it had no intention of insulting anyone, but still my brain takes it as somewhat of a challenge/insult... That's the best way I can describe it for now. So that's what I meant.

When I said he was a sixth grade level, I pretty much meant in terms of writing, kanji, etc. I wouldn't be able to describe it to the level you can, nor would I be able to do it accurately because my understanding of the language so far is not too great.

One more thing... By the time I learn enough Japanese to read Naruto, I would have outgrown it?!?!?!?!?!?!! NEVER!!!! NEVER NEVER! EVER! I'm actually serious though, I'll keep all my manga with me until I DIE. Yes, that's right. Naruto is my favorite, I don't think I'll outgrow it anytime soon. Also, there's actually a good possibility that with those two friends I mentioned helping me, as well as with a good Japanese dictionary (already have one on my computer), I could start reading it in 1-2 years.

Mike Cash wrote:One other small but important item, if I may. By the time you learn enough Japanese to read Naruto, you will have long since outgrown Naruto.

I don't know.. I'm re-reading ranma right now, and I have to admit, it's as funny as the first time I read it 15 something years ago.

But to each his own.

When I had been studying Japanese for ~2 years, one of the first native materials I tried to stumble through was One Piece; 8 years later I'm still reading One Piece, so I guess we don't outgrow everything.

^ I'm sorry, Chikara, I guess I didn't read those rules as carefully as I thought. I did apologize though, and again, I had absolutely no intent to insult anyone, nor did i have any idea until now that that could be racist or offensive in any way.

I agree with the others who posted, I don't think I'll outgrow manga or Naruto anytime soon. I know i'm only fourteen, but I've been watching anime for about 11 years now and I've always enjoyed it. I haven't even outgrown Pokemon (Don't even THINK about laughing, it's awesome, lol). When I grew wiser and realized it was better, I started reading manga, maybe some three years ago, or so. I don't think I'll be outgrowing it soon, once again.